CLASS PROGRAM
The Paley Center for Media
Tooned In to Animation
Pre-Visit Activity:
Through the following exercise, you and your students can explore animation and better understand its
tools and techniques.
Vocabulary
Go over the vocabulary list provided. Students should become familiar with these words and concepts
because they will be referenced in the class.
Animation: A filmmaking technique where the illusion of motion is created frame-by-frame. The word
comes from the Latin word, “anima,” meaning “life” or “soul.”
Animator: The person who draws the moving character in an animated film.
Background: A flat piece of artwork that is the setting for a moving character in an animated film.
Cel: Short for celluloid, a cel is a clear piece of plastic on which the animator’s finished drawings are
painted. The cel is clear so that when placed over the background, the animated characters appear to
be in a setting.
Frame: An individual still picture on a strip of film. Twenty-four frames equal one second of a motion
picture.
Frame-by-frame: The filmmaking technique in animation where each frame is exposed one at a time
and the object being photographed is slightly altered for each picture.
In-betweens: Drawings that are positioned between the drawings that are at the beginning and end
poses.
Ink and Paint: The step in cel animation in which the animator’s drawings are placed on cels to be
photographed. A drawing is outlined on the front of the cel with black ink, while the back of the
cel is painted.
Script: The written story of a film that supplies dialogue, camera moves, background, staging,
and action.
Storyboard: A storyboard is a visual representation of a story. Pictures can be sketched on pieces of paper
and pinned to a large board, or they can be drawn on a large piece of paper, comic-book style, to represent
scenes in a film. A story sketch should show character, attitude, feelings, entertainment, expressions,
and type of action, as well as tell the story of what’s happening.
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CLASS PROGRAM
The Paley Center for Media
Tooned In to Animation
Pre-Visit Activity
Make Your Own
Thaumatrope
The thaumatrope (pronounced
thaw-ma-trope) is a motion toy
from the early 1800s. The thaumatrope uses a disc with pictures on
both sides. When this disc is spun
quickly, the two different pictures
become one.
You will need:
Scissors
Hole Puncher
String
Glue
Cardstock
Directions:
1. Print out this sheet. Cut out
both picture discs and glue
them on a sheet of cardstock.
2. Punch holes on both discs at
the x’s.
3. Place the two discs back-toback and tie string through
the holes.
The television should be rightside up, the Paley Center logo
and boy should be upside-down.
4. Twist the string back and forth
between your thumb and forefinger to spin the disc quickly
and see the two pictures as one.
25 West 52 Street New York NY 10019
Tel 212 621 6600 Fax 212 621 6765
465 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210
Tel 310 786 1000 Fax 310 786 1086
CLASS PROGRAM
The Paley Center for Media
Tooned In to Animation
Post-Visit Activities:
Part 1: Make Your Own Flip Book
Animation is the process whereby still pictures are turned into moving pictures. This is done by
flashing a series of images before the eye in rapid succession. Individual drawings are called cels;
individual photographs are called frames. Animation is used in cartoons, television, and film.
The more frames used per second, the “smoother” the animation is. Twenty-four frames equal
one second of a motion picture.
A flip book contains a series of still images, one per page. When you thumb through a flip book quickly,
a moving image appears, and you have created animation. The visual effect of a flip book is attributed to
human “persistence of vision.”
Materials:
• 3” x 5” blank index cards (Each flip book should consist of between twenty to thirty cards.)
• a thick rubber band (to hold cards together)
• a thick black magic marker or a pencil (also color markers or color pencils if you want to add color)
Directions:
1. Think of an idea for your moving picture. It may help you to study how the object moves and sketch
it out in stages on paper before drawing it on your flip book cards. You can start with something as
simple as a bouncing ball, which you draw in a slightly different place on each page, or try something
more challenging like a flower sprouting or a cow jumping over the moon.
2. Draw each stage of the movement you’ve selected on a separate index card. Try to make the changes in
movement gradual from picture to picture. The key is to alter the image and its location on the page
ever so slightly, as you move from one page to the next.
3. To create your own movie, hold one side of the group of cards and flip through the other side with your
thumb!
4. Share your flip books with each other. The possibilities are endless, so let the animating begin!
To explore more animation activities, please visit the Exploratorium at www.exploratorium.edu
25 West 52 Street New York NY 10019
Tel 212 621 6600 Fax 212 621 6765
465 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210
Tel 310 786 1000 Fax 310 786 1086
The Paley Center for Media
CLASS PROGRAM
Part 2: Animation Calculations
Have students work individually or in small groups to solve the Animation Calculations on the attached
worksheet. The answer key is provided below.
Answer Key
1. 60 seconds
2. 30 minutes; 30 minutes x 60 seconds/minute = 1,800 seconds
3. 60 minutes; 60 minutes x 60 seconds/minute = 3,600 seconds
4. a. 2 pages
b. 22 pages
5. 8 seconds x 24 frames/second = 192 pages (frames)
6. a. 30 minutes – 8 minutes = 22 minutes
b. 22 minutes x 60 seconds/minute x 24 frames/second = 31,680 frames
c. 22 minutes x 60 seconds/minute x 12 visible frames/second = 15,840 visible frames,
or 31,680 frames divided by 2 frames/visible frame = 15,840 visible frames
7. a. 2 hours x 3,600 seconds/hour x 24 frames/second = 172,800 frames
b. 172,800 frames x 1/3 = 57,600 frames
8. a. 216,000 drawings divided by 12 drawings/second = 18,000 seconds
b. 18,000 seconds divided by 60 seconds/minute = 300 minutes
c. 18,000 seconds divided by 3,600 seconds/hour = 5 hours
9. a. 103,680 frames divided by 24 frames/second = 4,320 seconds
b. 4,320 seconds divided by 60 seconds/minute = 72 minutes = 1 hour and 12 minutes
c. 72 minutes – 60 minutes (1 hour) = 12 minutes
10.a. 40,320 frames x 1 second/24 frames x 1 minute/60 seconds = 28 minutes, so: No, it’s too short.
b. He needs to add at least 2 minutes, but not more than 7.
c. He needs to add at least 2 minutes.
d. 2 minutes x 24 frames/second x 60 seconds/minute = 2,880 frames
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Tel 212 621 6600 Fax 212 621 6765
465 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210
Tel 310 786 1000 Fax 310 786 1086
The Paley Center for Media
CLASS PROGRAM
Animation Calculations
Name:______________________________
Date:________________________
Warm-up Problems
1. How many seconds are there in one minute?
2. How many minutes are there in a half-hour?
How many seconds? _______
3. How many minutes are there in an hour?
How many seconds? ________
________
________
________
*Important information to remember when doing these problems Cartoons are made up of individual drawings or pictures
called frames. In an animated program, there are twenty-four frames per second.
Use a calculator to help you solve the following problems. Show your work on a separate piece of paper.
Check your answers. Do they make sense?
4. Matt’s flip book has ten pages. Mary’s flip book has twelve pages.
a) How many more pages does Mary’s flip book have?
b) If Matt and Mary were to combine their flip books, how many pages would the new flip book have?
5. Jill wants to make a flip book that lasts eight seconds. Each page of a flip book is like one frame of
a hand-drawn animation program. Remember that there are twenty-four frames per second. How
many pages (or frames) must she have?
6. A Dragonball Z cartoon runs for a half-hour.
a) If there are eight minutes of commercials during this program, how many minutes of cartoon
arethere?
b) How many frames of animation are there in this cartoon?
c) When watching a cartoon, the human eye can see only twelve frames per second. There are
twenty-four frames per second in a cartoon to make the picture run more smoothly. How many
frames in this Dragonball Z cartoon will your eyes be able to see if you watch the entire cartoon?
7. A Rugrats cartoon is made of individual pictures or frames.
a) How many frames of animation are there in a special two-hour Rugrats cartoon?
b) One third of these frames use a black background to indicate nighttime. How many frames have
to be black?
25 West 52 Street New York NY 10019
Tel 212 621 6600 Fax 212 621 6765
465 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210
Tel 310 786 1000 Fax 310 786 1086
Bonus Questions
9. Annie’s claymation (stop-motion) has 103,680 frames.
a) How long is her animated program?
b) How many minutes does she need to edit out in order for her animation to be exactly one hour long?
10.The guidelines of a stop-motion animation contest state that animation submitted for the contest
must be between thirty and thirty-five minutes. John’s animated program has 40,320 frames.
a) Is his animation ready for the contest?
b) If not, what must he do in order to get it ready?
c) How many minutes does he need to add?
d) How many frames does he need to add?
The Paley Center for Media
CLASS PROGRAM
8. For every two frames, there is only one drawing. Each drawing is repeated once in order to make the
cartoon more fluid. There are twelve different drawings per second. Sam knows that 216,000 drawings were used in a special episode of The Simpsons. How long is this special episode? Give your answer
in both minutes and hours.
25 West 52 Street New York NY 10019
Tel 212 621 6600 Fax 212 621 6765
465 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills CA 90210
Tel 310 786 1000 Fax 310 786 1086